Sunday, October 31, 2010

Armed jihad fighters stormed a church in Baghdad today and took the congregants hostage, demanding the release of Al Qaeda prisoners in exchange. When Iraqi commandos stormed the church, some of the mujahideen detonated suicide bomb belts, and at least seven members of the congregation and seven terrorists were killed. The death toll may have been considerably higher.

In other news, funding public pensions in California currently costs about $3,000 per Californian. The amount, which is already considered high, may rise to $10,000 per resident within four years.

Thanks to Barry Rubin, Bobbo, DF, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, KGS, Takuan Seiyo, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Earlier tonight I posted the photo above — which was screen-capped by VH from a video — of a peace sign flashed through a shattered window of the EDL minivan in Amsterdam yesterday.

As soon as I saw it, I was reminded of the logo for the European Freedom Initiative, the organization that sponsored the free speech demonstration in Amsterdam. The hand in the logo was almost an exact fit for the one in the photo, and only had to be resized and inserted into its new context.

Vlad Tepes has edited and Youtubed an interview with Mark Steyn from last night at a gala event in Ottawa. The interviewer had the opportunity to ask Mr. Steyn a few questions about the “hate speech” case against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria. Mr. Steyn, as you might expect — given his own ordeal at the hands of the Canadian Human Rights Commission — had a few choice words to say about the Austrian government, and expressed his unreserved support for Elisabeth:

Readers who wish to donate to Elisabeth’s defense fund should visit the Save Free Speech site. The defense fund is not under her control, and disbursements from it will be made solely to pay her legal fees.

Previous posts about the hate speech case against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff:

Our British correspondent Gaia was in Amsterdam for the free speech rally yesterday. Below is her report, written while on the train on the way home to London.

My Farewell Message to Mayor Eberhard Van der Laanby Gaia

My thoughts for Mayor Van der Laan as I wend my way back home by train from Amsterdam:

Sir, you should be ashamed of yourself! The disgraceful treatment meted out to our Tommy and his friends, who came in peace to Holland to speak out about the invasion of your country by people hostile to your culture and way of life brings to my mind their forefathers, the other Tommies. In the not so distant past, those Tommies came willingly to help their Dutch brothers liberate your country from the boot of fascism, many of them dying in the process.

You are a disgrace to their memory!

But rest assured, Mayor Van der Laan: this will not be forgotten! Your time is coming to an end. The tides are changing in Europe and its people will no longer tolerate living as second class citizens in their own lands. The day of reckoning for you and your (il)liberal ilk will surely follow.

My view from the window in the autumn sunshine is of a postage stamp-sized little country where every square centimetre is lovingly tended and orderly. It brings to mind the poignant, closing paragraphs of the excellent book While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, who expresses it so much more eloquently than I:

Below is another version of EDL leader Tommy Robinson’s speech in Amsterdam yesterday. In this footage you can see that it was necessary to interrupt Gandalf’s speech to allow Mr. Robinson to speak before the EDL had to leave the country, on the advice of the Metropolitan Police who accompanied them to Amsterdam.

You can also see the hordes of media drones who crowded Mr. Robinson at every step. The EDL were definitely the media sensation of the day in Amsterdam:

Here’s a TV news clip from the Netherlands featuring EDL leader Tommy Robinson. It includes a snippet from his speech yesterday, and a brief walking interview I hadn’t seen before. At the end you can get a good look at the damaged bus.

This is a fair treatment of the EDL by the Dutch MSM — it lets Tommy Robinson speak out fairly, in his own words (in English, with Dutch subtitles):

Paul Weston and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff reported yesterday about what happened to the EDL delegation when it arrived at the train station near Generatorstraat in Amsterdam on its way to the free speech demonstration.

The Dutch police forced the EDL’s rented minivan to travel very slowly through a crowd of “anti-fascist” demonstrators on its way to the venue while the violent Antifas pelted the van with stones and bricks, smashing the windows. The Dutch police told Tommy Robinson and the other passengers that they must proceed the rest of the way on foot — reportedly about 300 yards — while offering them little or no protection from the anarchists who were attacking them.

I spoke on the phone this morning to an EDL source, and can now add a new wrinkle to this story. As Elisabeth mentioned yesterday, members of the Metropolitan Police were present at the demo, and advised the EDL to depart early. My contact has now shed some light on the role played by the British officers in the day’s events.

Yesterday we posted the video of the interview with Paul Weston in Amsterdam, even though the sound quality was low and some of the words were barely audible. Last night I painstakingly played and rewound the clip at high volume over and over until I had transcribed as much of the text as possible.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The packages carried on cargo planes from Yemen heading for the USA definitely contained bombs, according to the latest reports. The explosive material employed was PETN, the same chemical used by the lap bomber last Christmas, but considerably more powerful. At least one of the devices was intended to be triggered by a cell phone detonator.

In other news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to have contradicted her earlier remarks about the failure of Multiculturalism, and is now insisting that affirmative action is needed to bring more immigrants into public jobs in Germany.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DF, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, SF, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

…Well, not different at all, actually. It’s more of the same, just moved across the Channel and/or the Atlantic.

As Vlad says, Anjem Choudary is so helpful to our cause that we might as well put him on the payroll. Silver-tongued taqiyya artists like Imam Rauf and Tariq Ramadan soothe us with pretty lies, but Mr. Choudary reliably gives out the straight dope on Islam, every time, without fail. Sharia for him, for me, and for you, by suasion if possible, by murder and terror if necessary.

The interview with Paul Weston posted earlier today was excellent stuff, but the audio was unfortunately not very good, making Paul’s exchanges with the (obviously biased) MSM interviewer difficult to understand.

In order to help publicize what Paul said, I’ve made a transcript of the entire clip. Portions of it, especially some of the interviewer’s “questions”, were impossible to make out, and I marked those sections “inaudible”. In other parts I made educated guesses to fill in the gaps:

The biggest media attraction at today’s free speech rally in Amsterdam was Tommy Robinson, the most well-known of the leaders of the English Defence League. Mr. Robinson’s speech was cut short — in fact, his stay in the Netherlands was cut short — due to violent attacks by “anti-fascists”, whose behavior induced the police to ask the EDL delegation to leave early.

Below is the brief address Tommy Robinson gave to the crowd at the waste ground next to Generatorstraat:

As you can tell from the subsequent videos, the MSM lost interest after their favorite “fascist hooligan” from England left the scene. Fortunately, the Counterjihad media operatives on the ground in Amsterdam were able to provide us with a full record of everything that happened.

One of my Dutch contacts just skyped me to pass on an unconfirmed rumor that has been flying around Amsterdam this evening.

There is talk that the European Freedom Initiative (EFI) is planning a follow-up to today’s demonstration in Amsterdam. The proposed event will take place in Rotterdam in honor of Pim Fortuyn, on the anniversary of his assassination (which was on May 6, 2002).

My contact remarked that there is an intense rivalry between the football supporters of Rotterdam and those of Amsterdam. As noted earlier today, the “hooligans” of the AFCA/Ajax football club were prominent among the “anti-fascists” who violently attacked the EDL near the Isolatorweg railway station in Amsterdam.

If I understand it correctly, the members of Ajax hate the Rotterdam supporters almost as much as they do the EDL. What all this has to do with the EFI demonstration is not clear, however.

Below is the speech given by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff today at the free speech rally in Amsterdam. In it you can hear Elisabeth’s own description of the criminal charge she faces in Austria for “hate speech”, and what brought it about:

Readers who wish to donate to Elisabeth's defense fund should visit the Save Free Speech site. The defense fund is not under her control, and disbursements from it will be made solely to pay her legal fees.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to previous posts about Elisabeth’s case.

This is not the TV network’s version of this interview, so the sound is somewhat confusing. But most of what Paul says comes through loud and clear. Pay special attention to the last twenty seconds or so:

A small group of protesters belonging to Britain’s extremist English Defence League has gathered in Amsterdam to show support for anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders.

Watched by a large police force, the protesters gathered in fenced-off port area just west of the capital. Police succeeded in preventing confrontations with Ajax football fans staging a counter-protest. Police arrested a dozen people, among them four Britons and several Ajax fans.

Elsewhere, some 500 people attended a rally organised by the Platform against Xenophobia. No incidents were reported there.

Below is the speech given at today’s demonstration at Generatorstraat in Amsterdam by the British author and former Parliamentary candidate Paul Weston.

Hello. My name is Paul Weston, and I represent the International Free Press Society.

And I am standing here today because our liberal elites have betrayed our countries to Islam.

Forty-two years ago the British politician Enoch Powell made his famous “Rivers of Blood” speech, in which he stated that “The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils.”

Our politicians today do the exact opposite. They actively promote a preventable evil.

But eighty years ago one man, Winston Churchill, was very clear about preventing a clear and present evil, Herr Hitler and the Nazis. But Churchill was a lone voice crying in the wind of appeasement, and the carnage that could have been avoided came with a vengeance.

And today Europe finds itself in much the same position. Even as Islam grows demographically, territorially, and militantly, it is promoted as the “religion of peace” by the same type of cowardly, careerist politicians who once appeased Hitler.

Islam was not the religion of peace to Winston Churchill. He described it as the religion of blood and war.

Anyone with a knowledge of the foundations and history of Islamic expansion knows this to be the truth.

Mohammed was a warlord. And a very good warlord indeed. By the time of his death he had militarily defeated and converted most of the pagan and Christian tribes of the Arabian Peninsula.

After his death Islam rapidly expanded at the point of a sword, defeating ancient civilisations and overrunning continents as it did so.

And today it is within Europe, it is within the West, and it is calling for what it has always called for: total Islamic domination. And if we wish to resist, then they will use terror against us.

Yet still our treasonous politicians call it the “religion of peace”, and tell us that if we refuse to share such a fantastical and ridiculous notion, that if we choose to believe Winston Churchill’s argument that Islam is a religion of blood and war, then we will be sent to prison.

Of course it is not a religion of peace. Its founder was a warrior, and the highest honour bestowed upon a Muslim is the promise of hordes of scented houris and an eternal leg-over in the after life, achievable not by being a good Samaritan, but by dying as a martyr in the physical battle to expand imperialist Islam.

Islam divides the world into two spheres. The House of Islam (submission) and the House of War. What kind of religion defines itself by military conquest?

Yet our leaders tell us we cannot criticise Islam because it is a religion, whilst the organisation of the Islamic conference, in cahoots with the united nations is striving to make any criticism of Islam illegal.

But Islam is so much more than just a religion. It is a political, social, legal and structural blueprint which totally dominates a devout Muslim’s life, and wishes coincidentally to dominate all devout non-Muslims’ lives as well.

It is profoundly illiberal and it is profoundly undemocratic. It does not believe in the man-made laws of democracy, preferring instead to adhere to the absolute word of Allah, as interpreted by an illiterate 7th-century desert dweller.

And our politicians have imported this illiberal and undemocratic ideology into the liberal democracies than make up the West, and then they dare to criminalise us when we object to this!

I just got off the phone with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who will shortly be one of the speakers at today’s demonstration at Generatorstraat in Amsterdam. The police moved the demonstration to the new venue at the last minute, and Elisabeth says it is an awful place — a bare patch of grass in the middle of nowhere, far away from anything.

The demonstration, however is a smashing success, according to Elisabeth and others at the site. The remote open location apparently attracted massive media coverage, and Elisabeth has given four interviews so far. While she was talking to me, Paul Weston was being interviewed by a French media outlet.

The “anti-fascists” had gathered at the nearby train station to try to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the site, but they were not successful. Ruffians reputed to be from the AFCA/Ajax football club were at the station, ready for a fight, but were chased away by the police.

Elisabeth says that there is a helicopter hovering over the field, police on horses, and fifteen to twenty police vehicles on the scene. There are more police than civilians.

The English Defence League’s minivan was smashed by the Antifas, and the EDL was asked (reportedly by the British police, strangely enough) to leave the demonstration early.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Another major terror alert was issued today, this one due to a series of suspicious packages shipped by air from Yemen and bound ultimately for the USA. The alarm was raised after a package containing a modified toner cartridge was discovered at an air freight terminal in the UK. Other suspicious parcels were found, some of which contained explosive materials, according to President Obama. The intended targets were reportedly synagogues in Chicago.

Unusual activity was reported at the originating airport in Yemen prior to the suspicious flights. A number of men brought large bags to the regular luggage area instead of the cargo terminal. Uniformed pre-teen boys were acting as luggage handlers. And female passengers in full hijab were passed through screening without having to verify their identity.

In other news, President Obama stopped by Charlottesville, Virginia, today to campaign for our very own Rep. Tom Perriello (Socialist, 5th District).

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Our Flemish correspondent VH sends this report about an organized group of Dutch football supporters — “hooligans”, according to some observers — who have been roused by the words of the mayor of Amsterdam to organize a push-back against the EDL at tomorrow’s demonstration:

If I understand it correctly, as of the “Nieuwsuur” presentation, Antifa had not yet filed a permit for a demo, and the Mayor urged them to do so. With his “football-hooligan” spin he woke up the supporters of the Ajax/AFCA organization (or at least its supporters’ “leadership”).

Here’s a translated article from the AFCA website. It’s dated October 28 — which is well after the mayor publicly said he had “solid indications” hooligans would show up:

The following is the first part of a four-part analysis of Muslim crime in Britain. It was originally published as a pdf on the English Defence League website.

A Consideration of Muslim Crime in the UKand the Response of the British Authorities

By Pike Bishop

I. Introduction

Why we decided to produce this document

This document is an attempt to accomplish the following three objectives:

1.

To draw public attention to the serious and worsening problem of Muslim crime, in the UK specifically, and throughout Western Europe more generally.

2.

To draw attention to problematic aspects of the response of the UK authorities to Muslim crime.

3.

To promote a public debate on the implications, short- and long-term, of Muslim crime for Britain and its people.

Who we hope will read this document

We hope that any and all interested parties will read this dossier. However, we particularly hope that people in the media, academia, the government, and the police force will engage with the serious issues it raises.

What do we mean by ‘Muslim crime’?

Muslim crime is simply crime committed by Muslims. That said, we have a particular concern with violent crime (up to and including terrorism), sexual crime, property crime, and organized crime as committed by Muslims. By the word Muslim, we simply mean all people of Muslim background and upbringing who have not explicitly renounced Islam, irrespective of how devout they are, or how observant of the requirements of their religion.

Why focus on Muslim crime?

Of course, no single type of crime becomes any worse in and of itself simply by virtue of having been committed by a Muslim. Nonetheless, there are good reasons to be concerned about Muslim crime in its own right. These include the following: 1

Muslims appear to be overrepresented as the perpetrators of serious crime to an extent which is far from trivial (this claim will be justified in greater detail later).

Terrorism and terrorism-related offences, a crime category in which Muslims manifestly make up a massively disproportionate fraction of all convictions, impose enormous indirect costs on millions of people for long periods of time.

Muslims throughout the West have pronounced and undeniable separatist, supremacist, and subversive tendencies. This being the case, Muslim crime acquires a significance above and beyond that which might be expected, due to the possibility of it being — and being perceived as being — motivated by these tendencies. To rephrase, some crime is ‘just’ crime, whereas other crime will be perceived as being part of an ongoing inter-group conflict, and therefore possess the potential to further provoke that conflict. How much Muslim crime (or white crime, or black crime, or any crime, for that matter) is actually motivated by inter-group conflict is, of course, an empirical question.

The rate of growth of the Muslim community in the UK is extremely rapid, in both absolute and relative terms. Unusually high crime rates amongst this population therefore take on a significance they would not otherwise have.

The following video features interviews with spokesmen for the Dutch Defence League and Anti-Fascist Action about tomorrow’s demonstration in support of free speech in Amsterdam.

Anti-Fascist Action (AFA or Antifa) is a hard-left anarchist organization which routinely engages in violence and intimidation against anyone who opposes the multicultural agenda, and which enjoys the tacit support of certain European governments, especially when the Socialists are in power.

The interesting thing about this Dutch TV news report is that it gives a fair hearing to the Dutch Defence League. My guess is that the average Dutch television viewer regards the gray-bearded DDL spokesman with greater empathy than the young AFA punk with his shaved head and earlobe stud — especially since the latter makes it clear that he supports a violent response to the EDL and the DDL.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Iran has recently increased the number of amputations it performs as a judicial punishment. In the last few months, at least seven people have had their hands amputated after being convicted of theft.

In other news, local residents in a southwestern district of Moscow are protesting the proposed construction of a mosque in their neighborhood. They are angry because the mosque project will be built on the grounds of a park.

Thanks to Behind the Black, C. Cantoni, DF, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, Lurker from Tulsa, Mary Abdelmassih, no2liberals, RB, Russkiy, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

I mentioned last night that the Amsterdam police suddenly — three days before the scheduled event — demanded that the organizers of Saturday’s free speech demonstration move their event to a new venue.

Today the European Freedom Initiative’s appeal was denied, and the authorities have officially ordered the demonstration to move to its new location, Generatorstraat.

Our Flemish correspondent VH sends these details about the new venue:

Generatorstraat is all the way out in the Western Harbour area. They have moved it there out of fear for violence. The mayor says out of fear of hooligans, but if there is any violence, it will be violence provoked by the Anti-fascists. Threats were also posted on the culturally enriched website maroc.nl.

Another aspect may be is that the EFI is not a left-wing initiative — for example, violent demonstrations by the anti-Semitic enriched “Dutch” in The Netherlands Admits Color or the squatters were not relocated to the fringe of the city.

It seems like I spend all my time posting appeals on behalf of Counterjihad activists who are being shut down, harassed, sued, or arrested, all because they dare to publish criticism of Islam and/or political correctness.

There ought to be a webserver dedicated solely to cases of repression of Islam-critical free speech on the internet. The site would need an enormous amount of hard drive capacity, plus special protection against DDOS attacks, given the current trends.

The list of targeted dissidents gets longer and longer. Some have already had their day in court — Dahn Pettersson, Tomashot, Gregorius Nekschot, Jussi Halla-aho, Susanne Winter, and others: all have now paid the jizyah and feel themselves subdued.

Some, too few, have won their cases: Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant come to mind. Geert Wilders has not yet won, but his case recently ran into some well-timed speed bumps and will be postponed for months.

Others have yet to have their day in court: Pamela Geller faces a $10 million lawsuit here in the USA, and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff will be tried in an Austrian court next month for “hate speech”.

And now Blazing Cat Fur, a well-known Canadian anti-jihad blog. The story of the absurd lawsuit that was recently brought against him is below. Scroll to the bottom for information on donating to his defense fund, or visit his blog.

I realize that everyone must be feeling tapped-out by now, but this onslaught against us will not abate; it can only intensify:

About 18 months ago everybody’s favourite Ex-Canadian Human Rights Commission employee Richard Warman launched one of his many, as in very many, SLAPP suits against yours truly for, among other dastardly deeds, linking to the “far-right web site http://www.steynonline.com/”. Sheesh everybody knows Mark Steyn is controversial.

It gets better. I’m also being sued for linking to a web site while specifically referring to “the allegations” against Richard Warman. But what else would you expect from Warman, a man so tone deaf he actually believed he could win the support of both the CJC and B’nai Brith in a hate crime complaint against the JDL, who dared offend him by showing the Geert Wilders film “Fitna”.

Warman is also suing for comments made by multiple readers. In one instance for the heinous crime of calling him a “Bully”. We all know what this SLAPP suit is really all about. Warman is using every lawfare tactic he can to prevent a discussion in the public interest of Section 13 (1) and the CHRC. A discussion in which he must feature prominently.

Warman is suing me for $500,000.00 Dollars. A ridiculous amount for an equally ridiculous lawsuit. Nonetheless even nuisance suits such as this must be defended against. To date legal fees have run me about 10K. I’ve covered that from my own pocket. I am now asking for your help. I know times are hard for many of us but if every reader who visited daily were to contribute 5 or 10 dollars then that would go a long way to helping all of us out.

The video below was a joint effort by the Counterjihad Collective. Many thanks to all who participated, but an extra portion of gratitude is owed to Henrik Ræder Clausen and Vlad Tepes, who worked so hard to make it happen:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union has determined that discrimination, rather than Islam, is the main reason why Muslim youths become violent. They determined this via a survey that asked Muslim youths in Europe to report on the reasons why they might become violent. The overwhelming answer was that discrimination against them is what might prompt them to resort to violence.

In other news, disaffected right-wingers in Israel have started their own version of the “tea parties”. Their main focus is opposition to President Obama’s interference with Israel’s construction of new residences in the Judea and Samaria.

Thanks to Bobbo, C. Cantoni, DF, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, ICLA, Insubria, JD, JP, Reinhard, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

While North America’s shrinking commitment to its free-speech inheritance is shameful, in many parts of Europe it’s even worse. Like Geert Wilders, like Lars Hedegaard, like Ezra Levant, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff should not be on trial. Let’s help her get a bit more media attention.

Many thanks, Mr. Steyn!

We need a nice Johnny Cochran-style rhyming motto for the entire group. How about:

If we do not submit, then they must acquit!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two new participants joined Elisabeth’s Voice today, Western Rifle Shooters Association and Andy Bostom. The full list of participants has grown so long, I’ve put it below the jump:

As reported here previously, there will be a demonstration in support of free speech in Amsterdam this Saturday, October 30th. Activists from all over Europe will gather to express their solidarity with Geert Wilders, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Gregorius Nekschot, and all the other people across Europe who are being harassed, sued, prosecuted, and silenced for daring to speak out against politically correct orthodoxy.

The event is scheduled to take place at Museumplein, Amsterdam. However, the police want the organizers to move to a new location, and have proposed that it be held somewhere in the Westerlijk Havengebied (Western Port Area). In other words, in the middle of nowhere, and not in the heart of the city.

The organizers are working with police liaison in attempt to retain the original location. They argue that it creates enormous logistical difficulties — and may increase the security risks — to change the venue at such a late date. Some of the attendees are already in transit, and may miss the news of the change in plans.

As of this evening, there has been no final decision.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The umbrella group organizing the Amsterdam demonstration is the European Freedom Initiative. Participating groups include

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands has criticized Geert Wilders, saying that the PVV politician has undermined the authority of the court with his public statements. The President of the Court evidently believes that it is Mr. Wilders, rather than the actions of the prosecution and the judges, which has brought discredit upon Dutch jurisprudence.

In other news, some analysts believe that Greece will default on its sovereign debt in the next two to three years. Although the Greek government has imposed austerity measures in line with IMF specifications, it will not be enough to take care of the country’s massive load of debt.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Today is Day 5 of our appeal to help Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff fight a criminal charge for “hate speech” in Austria. See last Friday’s Elisabeth’s Voice post for the full story about what we are trying to do.

People who don’t use PayPal have been asking me about alternative ways to support Elisabeth. To get the bank information, use the “Donate” tab at the Save Free Speech site. It takes you to a how-to-donate page, which includes this information for bank transfers:

It’s important to realize that what you see here is only half of our operation; the other half is in German. The head of the German-language team reminded me: “Please don’t forget the support of German-speaking websites! The complete list, including German websites, is here. (regularly updated!)”

Since this time last night, we have added five new participants to the English-language list: Behind The Black, The Blogmocracy, ACT! For America, Right Wing Death Bogan, and Winds of Jihad.

The English Defence League has a reputation as a “racist” organization. It matters not a whit to the media oligarchs that Islam is not a race. It makes no difference that the EDL has numerous non-white members who cherish English culture. In the MSM and among the chattering classes, the meme is set, and cannot be changed.

The Danish journalist Sigurd Ericson visited England to find out first-hand the truth about the EDL’s “racism”. His report has been published at Europe News, and is reproduced here with permission.

Not a Trace of Racism: An Outsider’s Look at the EDL

by Sigurd Ericson

(LONDON, October 25, 2010) The English Defence League is racist, fascist and violent — in brief, something the cat dragged in and which must be crushed by any means necessary if England is to remain free and democratic. This is what the British media have been telling the public ever since the EDL first made its appearance in the town of Luton 18 months ago, and armed with this knowledge I went to England to see for myself.

I was in for a big surprise for I could find no evidence that would support any of these accusations.

Quite the contrary: The leaders and rank and file that I met in London, Wolverhampton, Luton and Bolton (a fair cross-section of the national membership, one should think) are multi-ethnic. They are black and white, English, Irish (interestingly, both Catholic and Protestant), Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jewish and probably a few other denominations and nationalities. Homosexuals are welcome and have even formed their own “division” in London — as have the Jews.

Rabbi Shifren supports the English Defence League

These special divisions may not have a lot of members but they exist and the EDL leadership would clearly like to see them grow.

The most important national leader, Tommy Robinson, who told this reporter that the Sikhs are the “most English of the English”, demonstrated this absence of racism.

When the media and the political and cultural elites accuse the EDL of racism, they must thinking of something else, namely that the organisation is adamantly opposed to the growing Islamisation of England. But Islam is an ideology and a political practice, not a race, as several members were keen to point out.

A working-class movement

The EDL is entirely working-class in outlook and demeanour and proudly so. Their sole political objective appears to be the defence of English — sometimes referred to as Christian — culture against Islamic encroachment. They despise the current British left but mainly because it is being subservient to Islamic interests. They have no trust in the official political leaders, who they consider to be sell-outs.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Despite appeals from police for calm, panic continues in the culturally enriched neighborhoods of the Swedish city of Malmö, as the gunman who has been targeting immigrant residents remains uncaught. Criminal gangs have joined the hunt for the perpetrator, who is widely believed (at least by the Swedish media) to be associated with the Sweden Democrats.

In other news, the barrage of information from the WikiLeaks document dump on the Iraq war continues, with details emerging about the presence in Iraq of chemical weapons — smuggled in from Iran.

Thanks to DF, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, Kitman, SF, Srdja Trifkovic, TB, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

We’ve just concluded the fourth day of our appeal to help Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff fight a “hate-speech” charge in her native Austria. Elisabeth had the temerity to speak out about Islam, and the Austrian establishment has responded by filing a criminal charge against her.

Today Elisabeth received a ringing endorsement from LTC (ret.) Allen West, who is now in the final phase of his campaign for Congress in Florida’s 22nd District:

Elisabeth, you saw what happened with Geert Wilders, just STAND and never ever back down from your principles and love of our western civilizational values.

Best regards, Allen

Since last night we have added seven more blogs to the list of participants in Elisabeth’s Voice: Yid With Lid, Citizen Warrior, Tasty Infidelicacies, Het Vrije Volk, summer patriot — winter soldier, Here’s The Right Side Of It, and Irate, Tireless Minority.

Readers who wish to donate to Elisabeth's defense fund should visit the Save Free Speech site. The defense fund is not under her control, and disbursements from it will be made solely to pay her legal fees.

Previous posts about the hate speech case against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff:

Our Norwegian correspondent Zylark returns with an essay about the persistent failure of postmodern intellectuals to perceive and understand the world as it is, rather than as they would prefer it to be.

The Dogmatic Denial of Realityby Zylark

Why many intellectuals miss the point, and many who are not considered intellectuals do not.

Education is a double-edged sword, especially in the social sciences. It is no secret that most higher educational facilities are dominated by the more liberal professors and other like-minded faculty. It is the prevalent culture.

And that is quite fine, in principle. The campus is supposed to be a free zone, where ideas are to be tested on merit, not prejudice. Which requires tolerance, a mindset ready to admit fault, and not least the recognition that nothing is holy, beyond criticism.

It sounds nice, and in the more nature-oriented sciences, this is how it works for the most part. But in the social sciences it does not. Various social sciences have forgotten about reality, and instead got hung up in their own constructed ideal view of existence. They mistake how they want reality to be for how reality really is.

That is how you can find people calling themselves scientists who claim one’s sex is arbitrary to one’s development and identity. That one’s role and identity in society, not least with regards to one’s sex and sexuality is determined according to learned societal stereotypes, not the genes and sex itself and the inherent predispositions inherited with them.

In this view any girl can behave as a boy, and vice versa. Naturally, however, anyone more inclined to following actual evidence (as a proper scientist would) can tell you that there are some very significant differences in the inherent psychological makeup of boys and girls. It is not a coincidence that boys tend to play with cars, and girls with dolls, generally speaking.

This denial of realities is part of a dogma. It goes under the guise of a liberal intellectual mindset best described as postmodern relativism. That is: all ideas have equal validity. This dogma asserts that all basic understandings of reality, and as a continuation morality and ethics, are equal. Boy? Girl? Doesn’t matter.

This is, of course, true in the sense that both sexes have equal worth, and should enjoy equal opportunity. It is not true in the sense that both sexes possess the same interests, however. Obviously, this is not a clear cut dichotomy. It is more a soft-edged overlap. As are most things in nature.

But you do not need a higher degree to know that most girls like to play with dolls, and most boys like to play with cars. You do need a higher degree to say that sex has nothing to do with a choice of favorite toys.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A similar situation obtains with regards to the West and Islam. A basic denial of facts. Various intellectuals and politicians alike assume Islam is just another religion, like those practiced by, say, Buddhists, Hindus, or Christians. Strike one. Next they assume religion is by definition a force for good. Strike two. And finally, strike three, they assume Islam can be tamed. They are very aware of the more feral variations of Islam, but they think in some ideal world, when it encounters tolerance, Islam will be domesticated.

Indeed, some even think that when Islam meets the West here in Europe — and providing we Europeans give up a few hard-won freedoms, all will be nice and honky-dory. As the “peace researcher” Johan Galtung claims:

Our Bulgarian correspondent RR has translated a pair of articles from the Bulgarian media about the migration of Islamic terror from Lebanon and Turkey into Bulgaria, Greece, and points west — and this is before Turkish membership in the EU.

RR includes this introduction:

According to recent news articles, Bulgaria is a legitimate target by Islamic terrorists because it sent soldiers in support of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan [see story #1]. Linked in “Related news” was the brief news about the captured Turkish terrorist [see story #2], which made me think how many of them travel across Europe without restrictions.

“Europe without borders” was an idyll featuring free, happy and friendly people, maybe flower-girdled and high on freedom (and pot), moving around and exchanging ideas, diversity, and sex, without any border checks from Lisbon to Umea or from Limerick to… to say Diarbekir in Asia Minor, why not? The liberal oligarchs are keen to admit the 75-million-strong Muslim Turkey into the EU.

Somehow, this hippie visionary dream of Europe without the nasty border cops became a reality.

Islamists from the refugee camp Ain al Helwe in South Lebanon have penetrated into Bulgaria and Greece on false passports. This was disclosed in an investigation by the Lebanese journalist Hassan Aliq published in the newspaper “Al Ahbar” and the site orientbg.info.

The camp Ain al Helwe is the base of the Asbat-al-Ansar jihadist formation, whose speaker announced recently in an interview for 24 Hours that Bulgaria is a legitimate target for al-Qaeda because of the presence of a Bulgarian military contingent in Afghanistan.

The member of the Central Committee of the Fattah Movement, Sultan Aynen, is cited as disclosing: “Over the last three months some persons persecuted by the Lebanese courts made the effort to escape from the refugee camp. To this date more than 20 men managed to leave the camp and have arrived in Europe. Some of them reached Greece and are staying in Athens. Others reside in Bulgaria. Some of those persons were arrested in those two countries, but freed from custody afterwards”.

Aynen suggested that the illegals were supporters of the “ultra-extremist” fraction “Jund ash Sham” — fighters, who left the “moderate” Asbat-al-Ansar.

Middle East specialist Prof. V. Chukov commented on the news: “The original material from the Lebanese source is controversial on some points. What surfaces clearly is the fact that this country (Bulgaria) has arrested some mujahideen, who possibly took part in the bloody battles with Lebanese government forces two years ago and are now actively persecuted by the Lebanese state. Now that this has happened, it is quite logical that their militant faction voices threats against Bulgaria”…

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The British government is proposing to institute draconian spending cuts to cope with the country’s out-of-control budget deficit. Critics say the cuts are way too big, and may throw the country into a depression. The pound is predicted to fall against other currencies in reaction to the new policies.

In other news, a 73-year-old man in Georgia was stung to death by killer bees.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, DF, Esther, Fjordman, Gaia, JD, KGS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

After the third day of the Elisabeth’s Voice appeal, we’ve added twelve thirteen blogs or websites to the original list of participants.

The latest additions just came in a short while ago, from Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs and Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch, the two largest blogs in the Counterjihad.

Having this kind of power-hitting behind her will help give Elisabeth the extra push she needs, not just to raise funds, but to raise awareness in the United States about the risk to free speech in Europe. Many thanks to Pamela and Robert for stepping forward.

This is exactly what the founders of Elisabeth’s Voice were hoping for when we launched the original appeal on Friday. Now we have eighteen participants, and the list of big American blogs has dropped to ten. Not bad!

I’ve been chained to my keyboard ever since Geert Wilders’ case returned to court on October 4. By the time the judges in the trial were dismissed — which is when I otherwise would have taken a brief rest — the court date for Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff had been set, and all my energies since then have remained focused on helping her.

As a result, I missed what happened to Pamela Geller. On October 13, Pamela found out that she was being sued for $10 million by a Muslim who didn’t like what she said about him. Many thanks to the reader who brought this to my attention.

As I said in my post the other day, Elisabeth isn’t the only one who will be targeted for what she says — all of us are at risk. Pamela Geller also needs and deserves our support.

In July of 2009, a young teenage girl ran away from her home in Ohio, after her father threatened to kill her upon discovering her conversion out of Islam. When she disappeared, many of her friends and those of us who had heard of her plight thought that she had met the worst of fates (as almost of these cases end the same horrible way). Imagine our joy when she emerged alive.

What followed was a campaign of intimidation and persecution by Islamic supremacists, her parents and CAIR. Their objective was to shut her up and return her to the hellish home she fought so desperately to escape.

The Islamic supremacists lost. The lovers and defenders of freedom were victorious. But no good deed goes unpunished.

Tarazi has been a featured speaker at the Noor mosque that spied on Rifqa and publicly ridiculed her. The pressure on Rifqa Bary was intense, the fatwas calling for her death numerous.

The Barys had been working closely with Muslim Brotherhood front, Hamas-linked CAIR to return this poor tortured girl to her violent home. Atlas readers fought hard for Rifqa. We rallied, covered her trials to return her home, sent hundreds of Christmas cards in a holiday campaign (the lawyer Tarazi tried to have the cards seized and banned — unsuccessfully, I might add) and we contacted Florida and Ohio politicians and officials to keep Rifqa safe from her Islamic fundamentalist home and mosque.